The Wine Song

by Rabbi Reuven Subar

"And
it was in the days of"
a
Turnabout Man
(I don't mean his feet smelled
and
that his nose ran)
This
barn-boy born
In
old Babylon
In
the flip of a coin
became
Shah of Iran.
His
Destiny, Manifest,
seemed
like a sign.
He
honored himself
in
a party of Wine.

His
name, Achashverosh,
Globally
hated
(To
say it your throat
must
be well-lubricated).
From
above the Great Sea,
From
Kush to Hindie, he ruled
Yet
his hunger was scarcely half-sated.
"One
last coup d'etate,
then
dominion is Mine!"
But
Vashti was set
on
her own feast of Wine.

This
King was a Jack
With
an Ace in his boot
But
his Queen was unsuited,
She
would not follow suit.
She
drew clubs.
Then
spades threw earth on the grave
Where
she faded;
She,
who like diamonds did shine
And
the heart of the King
was
merry with Wine.

And
at last, one long and wintry night,
A
princess appeared,
dressed
in plain white.
When
the King picked this shoot
From
the tree of twelve roots
She
was balm for the poisonous snake, Aggagite,
Who
hate had eaten a hole in his mind
Then,
the
King and Haman
sat
down to drink Wine.

"Where
the sticker bush was,
the
myrtle will thrive"
(It's
a verse in Isaiah, fifty-five)
Meaning:
"Esther, the Myrtle,
Will
leap every hurdle -
And
Mordechai too
That
unbending Jew.

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